Wild Horses
by mashnut
Summary: O.K. so it's been a while but I finally got chapter 5 up. Please Review. HM
1. Hell In the Compound

Wild Horses by mashnut

A M*A*S*H Fan Fic

Here I go again. Why do I keep coming up with ideas? Yada. Yada. Yada. I don't own the characters. Yada. Yada. Yada. Not making any money. (Wish I was!! LOL)

The wind howled outside the tent as three figures inside slept a disturbed sleep. A small, huddled person ran between the tents, against the storm, till he reached the door to the one called the Swamp.

"Hawkeye? Hawkeye, you awake?" Out of breath from running he pulled back his hood and shook one of the sleeping figures. Standing next to the camp bed he was pale and shivering, the eyes hidden by smeared glasses darted this way and that showing the panic within.

"Radar, I'll remove your appendix the hard way if you don't leave me alone." The once sleeping person answered, pulling back the covers to reveal floppy black hair flecked with grey atop a young face with bright blue eyes.

"It's Colonel Potter. He went out in the storm to see to Sophie. When he didn't come back I followed. He… he…" Radar pulled a knitted cap from his head and twisted it in his hands. Hawkeye sat up and a look of concern entered the, now awake, male face.

"Come on. Spit it out."

"Sophie kicked him. The horse got away."

"How bad is Potter?" Hawk got out of the bed while throwing his pillow towards one of the other sleeping men near by.

"He's not getting up. He got hit in the chest." Radar's cap was almost in shreds. The pillow reached the intended person causing a shout.

"Hawk, what did you do that for?" The one who was so rudely woken didn't look too angry. He was probably used to it.

"Potter's hurt. We gotta go, BJ." Hawk was pulling on army boots and a red bathrobe over the t-shirt and shorts he had been sleeping in.

"Right behind you." BJ was quite a bit taller than Radar with sandy coloured hair. Radar was anxious for them to leave so he hovered over Hawkeye and BJ as they wrapped themselves up and headed out into the storm.

The wind battered against them as the three men hurried to the aid of the fallen colonel. Radar broke into a run as they passed rows of parked up jeeps and busses, each marked with a red cross on a white background. Rounding a corner they came across a makeshift corral. The gate was open, slamming shut whenever the wind caught it. A moonlit lump lay in the corner near the water trough. BJ and Hawk moved the body till the crush mark on the older man's chest was visible. He was still breathing and, amazingly, still awake.

"Where's Sophie?" Colonel Potter managed to croak.

"Gone But we need to see to you." Hawkeye continued to examine while BJ grabbed Radar and went for a stretcher. Hawk finished just as BJ and Radar returned with another man and a blonde woman. Both wearing nightdresses.

"He's got four badly broken ribs and a punctured lung. At least Sophie missed his heart. Radar and Klinger, carry him to O.R. Margaret we're going to have to get scrubbed up." Hawk briefed the others. BJ and Hawk moved Potter on to the stretcher before Radar and Klinger, the man in the flowery nightdress, carried him off to wards the only permanent building. Margaret, Hawkeye and BJ ran towards a different door to the same building which opened onto the scrub room. A lot of medical talk went on between the two doctors and nurse as they washed and changed into clean surgical gowns. From then on there was precious little talk in the operating room, only instructions or requests for equipment.

~~~~~ All reviews gratefully received ~~~~~ Love mashnut


	2. Pure Love

Dawn was breaking just as the doctors and nurse left the O.R. Still in the surgical gowns they headed towards the mess tent. All three grabbed a cup of coffee and trudged towards a table near the door. The surgery was harder than anyone had anticipated. Colonel Potter was still out cold, drinking up most of the camps blood too. There was no conversation, each officer was lost in their own world. The quiet early morning was disturbed by Radar's entrance.

"How did it go?" Radar had fallen asleep midway through. Hawkeye was still too shocked to say anything, he stared into the bottom of the coffee mug he held in front of him. BJ answered for him.

"He'll pull through but the operation was harder than we thought it would be. Any news on Sophie?"

"Klinger and Igor set off in a jeep to look for this morning but she could be anywhere." Radar shrugged.

"Why do you want that brute back?" Margaret cut in. Hawkeye started to pay attention again.

"Potter asked for her. He may lose the will to get better if we don't look. That horse means so much to him." Hawk slammed down the mug onto the table, causing BJ to jump. He stormed out of the tent and marched away.

"Why is he so angry? Go after him Beej!" Margaret encouraged BJ to follow. Only BJ didn't move, "Move! Go after him!"

"I can't go after him." BJ spoke calmly, "He will have to work through this alone." As he finished Margaret stood up and walked back to her tent.

Halfway across the compound, Hawkeye stopped, thought for a moment and turned so he faced the corral. The expression changed before he ran toward the nearest empty jeep.

Margaret watched Hawk from the door of her tent. Tears pricked at her eyes as she watched the man, who seemed to be more of a stranger than ever, run away, jumping over the rows of stones. She stopped watching and started crying before he disappeared from sight.

The coffee had gone cold long ago. BJ sighed miserably as the enlisted men started to file into the tent around him. A balding major entered and looked straight at BJ.

"Have you seen Colonel Potter?" It was said in a self-important tone, rattling BJ, disturbing him from his thoughts.

"For nearly all of last night." BJ drawled in a bored monotone. The other man's expression changed from slightly annoyed to shock.

"What do you mean?" His voice did not sound worried. The face, on the other hand, did.

"He went out to see Sophie, in the storm. She got spooked and kicked him in the chest. Hawkeye and I have been up all night, repairing the punctured lung and piecing together his smashed ribs." There was an involuntary shudder as BJ pictured Potter lying in the blood soaked straw.

"No."

"Yes, Charles." BJ looked deep into the eyes of the disbelieving man in front, "He's in Post-Op." Charles shot out of the mess tent in the direction of Post-Op. Reluctantly, BJ got up and followed.


	3. The Prodigal Horse

Margaret left her tent only once that day. To go to the "Swamp" to see Hawkeye. She had to. It was driving her nuts. She had to tell him. She got to the tent unnoticed by any of the other personnel. Knocking quietly, she heard BJ talking inside. Someone was coming to the door, usually there was just a shout of "Come in.", Margaret held her breath.

Charles opened the door and left the tent, walking towards Post-Op again. Margaret resurfaced from where she had hidden, breathing a sigh of relief she pushed the door to the "Swamp" open. The only person left inside was BJ. 

"Did you come to talk to Hawkeye?" BJ only enquired but Margaret broke down into tears. He had no idea of what to do but the best he could do was hold her.

"You know, don't you?" Margaret managed to mutter.

"Yes. Did you come here to tell him?" Margaret nodded in reply. She unfurled herself from BJ's arms and sat down on Hawkeye's bunk.

After ten minutes of non-existing small talk Hawkeye returned from his mission.

"I've found Sophie!" He was so excited he did not register the puffy, red eyes on Margaret's face, "She's outside!" He ran off with BJ hot on his heels. No-one gave a second thought to Margaret.

The late night arrival had drawn everyone's attention. People were running out of every tent and building. Charles came out of Post-OP, Radar from his office, Klinger arrived with his hair in rollers, in fact the only person not there was Colonel Potter. The shadow of the once fit and healthy mare lay in the back of the same truck that brought her to the 4077th. BJ took one look at Sophie and ran his hand down one of her forelegs.

"It's broken." BJ shook his head. Everyone was quiet, except Charles who could not figure out what was wrong.

"Why is that a problem?" Charles looked hopelessly confused. Anyone who has ever watched horse racing or ridden one will understand that when a horse breaks a leg the best thing to do is to put the horse to sleep. Tears once again started to slide down Margaret's face as she slipped, unnoticed, into the "Swamp". Radar retreated back towards his office, there was no way that he wanted to see the end of the horse he saved, helped, looked after, and gave to Colonel Potter die. Igor came over and explained to Charles what was going on, since BJ and Hawkeye were starting to take Sophie back to her corral. Many of the nurses had to be comforted but Hawkeye was taking no interest in it, Sophie was all he wanted right now. 

BJ and Hawkeye did the best they could to make Sophie comfortable then headed back towards the "Swamp".

"Why are we always heading home at dawn?" BJ pointed out that the sun was rising bringing with it another day. But this day wasn't over yet as Margaret waited for Hawkeye inside.


	4. Conversations and the Lack There Of

Through the thin walls of the "Swamp" BJ spotted Margaret sitting on Hawk's bunk, he panicked and made his excuses about being on Post-Op duty. Hawkeye went towards the door the anger and frustration building up inside. He took a swing at it, hand balled into a tight fist, the door almost left its hinges as it slammed into something behind it. Margaret's hands flew to her face hiding the blood and tears.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Margaret sounded calm although inside her blood boiled. Hawkeye could not take in what he had just done. He collapsed onto his bed and started to say something but Margaret was not finished.

"I came here to tell you, I love you. But after what you have done I think I was mistaken." She turned and left Hawk to his thoughts. He could barely admit it to himself but he loved her to.

For BJ duty was easy, the only real patient was Potter, who was out cold most of the time. It gave him time to write home to Peg and this letter contained the details of the accident as well as the goings on between Margaret and Hawkeye or the lack of anything going on between them. He turned around when the door opened, a sheepish Margaret entered. The blood form her nose was visible from beneath her hands.

"What happened?" BJ jumped up form the desk and pulled the hands away from her face.

"Hawkeye punched the door while I was standing behind it." Margaret winced as BJ started to clean it. From behind the curtain, they could hear someone else come in and start talking. The conversation was not for them.

"That'll be Charles talking to Potter again. He comes in every night. I think he's lost without him." BJ whispered to Margaret. Both started to listen closely to what Charles had to say.

"I can't do it any more. I can't run this place. Yes, I know that Radar does most of it but…… I… I'm not strong enough. Money isn't everything. I get that now. We all need you to get better. Klinger hasn't been in a dress since." It was true, Klinger had not even so much as worn a fruit covered hat since Potter's operation, "No-one's the same….. Not any more…"

Someone else entered cutting of Charles mid-sentence.

"That's fine and well for you but they're obviously not here." Charles' voice rose in volume as he spoke to this other person. He sounded disturbed like he thought that person might have overheard and would use this to their advantage, "Go away Hawkeye."

"He has come here looking for me." Margaret panicked. He had not found them behind the curtain but there was a chance that it was the very next place he was going to look.

"Margaret." Hawk called out.

"Quiet, Pierce. You are disturbing the patients." Said a hoarse voice.

"Colonel Potter!" Both Hawkeye and Charles cried out at the same time. Margaret and BJ came out from behind the curtain.

"How are you?" Margaret asked.

"I feel like I've been kicked in the chest. Where is Sophie? And what the name of wee horse happened to your nose, Margaret?" The Colonel sounded like he was back to his old self, almost.

"Long story, sir" Margaret said before trying to slip away out the door.

"I found Sophie but there's a problem." Hawkeye cut off Margaret's escape route while filling the Colonel in on what has happened.

"Come on then spit it out."

"Her fore leg is broken." BJ stated. Everyone looked to see what the expression on Potter's face was. Only there was nothing. His face was a complete blank.

~~~~~ Sorry it has taken so long to get another chapter up. But I do have a few essays to do (I'm procrastinating again!) and I had a huge mental block with this story. So I started one about Harry Potter. It hasn't gotten any reviews yet. L Please if you like Harry Potter look it up (click on my pen-name) and review it for me. J I'll get the next chapter up real soon as I'm still trying to avoid the report I have to write for Monday!!!!! ~~~~~ Love mashnut ~~~~~


	5. Time It Should Heal All Wounds

It took Potter another two months to get right back to the way he was but in that time he had to come to terms with the issue of Sophie. She hadn't gotten any better since Hawkeye brought her back to camp. So early one dry September morning, Colonel Potter went out with his shotgun and ended Sophie's pain once and for all.

That same morning Margaret had woken up in Hawkeye's arms for the first time. It was one of Radar's announcements that had brought Margaret's mind back to where she was and who she was with.

"Honey?" she said stroking the soft black hair on his head.

"Yes?" came the mumbled reply. It didn't help that his face was buried in her chest.

"We need to get up."

"Why should we ruin this?" Hawkeye said as he started to sit up.

"Colonel Potter is back behind his desk today and if we appear to be working at anything less than one hundred per cent efficiency then…." Margaret got cut off by Hawkeye. Who having given up trying to sit had gone back to nuzzling Margaret's neck, finally claiming her mouth with his own.

"Stop…. worrying… about… Potter….. he'll….. be…… fine…." Hawkeye's words were interspersed with attacks on Margaret's neck. Just at that point Radar's voice came back on the camp's P.A.

"ATTENTION. ATTENTION. CHOPPERS AND JEEPS ARRIVING IN THE COMPOUND. BOTHE SURGICAL TEAMS TO THE O.R. IMMEDIATELY. THAT WILL BE ALL."

"Looks like this will be cut short anyway." Said Hawkeye dejectedly, leaving Margaret's neck alone so they could get dressed.

~~~~~ O.K. so it only took me 4 months to update and it's really short. So shoot me. I'm sorry I couldn't write sooner. I promise to write a full chapter as soon as possible. And I'll explain the Hawkeye/Margaret bit then too. I just wanted to show you that I haven't forgotten about this! ~~~~~ Love mashnut ~~~~ P.S. feel free to shout at me in your reviews. ~~~~~


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